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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We started the day with our annual Turley Turkey Bowl, which has been running for over 50 years. We then returned to prepare our big family feast. We served traditional fare, including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, Waldorf salad, pumpkin pies, and all the rest. We should be in a food coma in time to watch the NFL games.

Our Turkey Bowl always features the Bears against Washington. I, of course, proudly coached the Bears. The game ended with a soul-crushing 24-0 loss. There were the usual allegations against the Bears coach of fixing draft selections, misrepresenting down counts, and other infractions. Whatever the merits of those allegations (and there were grounds), it did not seem to matter. However, it does give Matt Eberflus something to be thankful on this day. He is not doing nearly as bad as “that other Bears coach.”

Once again, my past requests for a flyover from the Pentagon have yet to be answered. We then proceeded to have a potluck feast on the field, with donuts, muffins, hot chocolate, coffee, and other morning fare.

Today, we are having our usual two turkeys. One is brined and in the oven. The other is in the Green Egg for smoking (my first venture with a turkey on the egg).  I made my usual apple and cornbread stuffing.  We have four homemade pies, our favorite spinach dish, Waldorf Salad, our cranberry dish, and other favorites.

We have all the kids with us, despite one in college, one preparing for graduate school, one in law school, and one in medical school. We now have dozens of regulars from the neighborhood, many of whom have attended since they were small kids.

The Turkey Bowl is now an occasion for these kids to see each other on break from their various jobs and schools. Having watched them grow up, it is an amazing moment to see them all together. I am so happy that the Turkey Bowl has become part of their return home each year. Despite our best efforts, they all turned out pretty darn good.

For most of us, Thanksgiving remains a day of family and friendship—a needed pause from the divisions and strife we experience daily. That is why it is my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is about maintaining the connections that have shaped our lives and perhaps making some new ones.

I am also thankful for our extended family on this blog, which has continued to grow at a record pace. Many of our readers are in countries that do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but we are indeed thankful that you continue to join us and share your views on the blog.

I hope that everyone can come together despite our recent divisive election. That is precisely why this is my favorite holiday. It celebrates what we have and should give thanks for, including our relationships with others. As I watched all of the “kids” at our annual game, I was truly thankful for our long history together.

My family wishes you and your family a wonderful holiday. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

32 thoughts on “HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!”

  2. We should all be thankful that Prof. Turley is able to stand up to the pressures to conform to left-wing fanaticism in the American academic world. Why he is able to do so may be a mystery, but let us just be grateful.

  4. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

    Thank you, God, for saving Donald Trump from the foul assassin’s bullet in Butler, PA. Also thank you for keeping Trump safe from the clutches of the Spawn-of-Satan Democrats, who sought every way to bring him down with their lies, smears and snares.

    Also, thank you for Peanut, the formerly-stray dog. And for Pogo, Cooter Brown, Missouri, Sassy, Miss Fluffy, Pickles, Myrtle, Mittens, Hemingway, Boston, Bebop, Spooky, Felix, Jasper, Scout, Jack, Rascal, Butch, Bumper, Snookums, Gertrude, Porky, the two Harleys, Dixie, and Sheba! Also thank you for the outside stray cats, Bob, Stuart, and Sarge, and the unnamed ones who come by night to eat. Thank you for the little possum, the early Coon who likes grapes, and the rest of the coons who clean up all the leftovers.

    And, for my daughter, who helps me help them. And just sent me a dinner of turkey, dirty rice with deer meat, yams, etc.

    1. Floyd,
      We have two barn cats. And last year a stray appeared. During the warmer months we keep a bowl of water and food on top of the cat house on the front porch. This year, we got another cat house for inside the barn with a couple of blankets and keep their food and water in there. Happy to say, this morning I saw both barn cats eating and the stray was walking out to the barn for morning breakfast. Looks like he has moved in for the winter.

  5. And to you and yours.

    Thank you for your indefatigable productivity and for the opportunity to comment.

  6. A Merry,Happy and Hope-filled Thanksgiving Professor and everyone.
    As always, we enjoyed reading about the Turley Clan!
    There’s so much to be thankful for, especially post-election…….and the Braggs are truly grateful.

    In 1953, when Irving Berlin, the prolific and iconic American composer was writing the score for the film “White Christmas”, he developed insomnia. He went to his doctor to ask for help, because lack of sleep was seriously affecting his work. His doctor, a wise man and a friend, said, “Irving, try this : when you’re worried and can’t sleep, instead of counting sheep, count your blessings”……..
    .and the rest is history!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjj-xKBLwXw

  8. Grateful for the incredible work of Prof. Turley! Happy Thanksgiving! A true American hero.

  10. It sounds like you’re having a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! May God bless you!

  15. Happy Turkey Day to All the Reasonable posters and I hope the trolls enjoy their Hákarl sandwich.

  16. “It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully
    acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore,
    invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and
    those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of
    November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in
    the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him
    for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national
    perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows,
    orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably
    engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the
    nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full
    enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.” A. Lincoln, 1863

  17. And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Really enjoy your views daily. Keep up the great work.

  18. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from someone who appreciates and learns from your posts and articles. Let me share one piece of information from my own area of study. The Hebrew word for Turkey–Hodu–illlustrates the mistaken notion–shared by many in Europe–that the bird was discovered in Asia. Hodu in modern Hebrew means India. But Hodu is also a word that can mean thanks. So a mistaken historical notion can sometimes generate a creative linguistic unity.

    1. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! And I’m immediately thankful you explained the Turkey Bowl, it would have driven me crazy trying to figured that out! LOL. I’m thankful for so many things, daily. But, most of all, Thankful to God for his many Blessings!

    1. * Happy Thanksgiving professor Turley and to each and every person wishes for Happy holidays.

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